A huge sinkhole has appeared in what appeared on a major road in Biggin Hill.

A picture of the sinkhole, which is around the same width as one lane on the road, was shared by police in Bromley after the sinkhole suddenly appeared on Thursday afternoon (September 6).

The giant hole in the ground appeared in A233 Main Road at the junction with Saltbox Hill before 2pm. The lane was closed off to traffic by local Darwin police, while Bromley Council and Thames Water have been made aware of the situation, and repairs are due to be carried out.

Metropolitan Police Darwin tweeted: "Beware! Large sinkhole has appeared on Main Road, Biggin Hill junction with Salt Box Hill.

The huge sinkhole appeared in the A233 before 2pm (Image: MPS Bromley)

"LBB and Thames Water are aware and the site has been coned/fenced off pending repairs. #NoPaddling"

Remarkably, the road is currently not closed but there may be delays in the area as people move around the sinkhole.

18:39

How the traffic is congested around the sinkhole

You can see on this traffic map below how the roads around the sinkhole are heavily congested.

The traffic picture at the moment around the sinkhole (Image: Google)

18:28

Where is this sinkhole?

Have a look on the map below to see where the sinkhole is.

It is in one lane of Main Road, near the junction with Saltbox Hill.

It is very close to the Biggin Hill Airport perimeter.

18:20

So how is traffic coping?

An entire lane of Main Road is blocked near the Saltbox Hill junction.

As a result, there are traffic issues in the Biggin Hill area, particularly with traffic heading to and leaving from the Biggin Hill airport.

Here’s what traffic monitoring system Inrix has to say about traffic on Main Road:

A233 Main Road in both directions partially blocked, queueing traffic due to large sinkhole at Saltbox Hill.

Traffic is able to pass the sinkhole.

Affecting traffic travelling to and from London Biggin Hill Airport.

18:14

Hole is 6-8 feet across

Harvie Hudson, a 20-year-old that works in the nearby The Kings Arms told the Advertiser:

It opened up about 10am, I was talking to a couple of people who went across the road at 8 and it was fine and couple more who went later so it must have been between 10 and 11.

It’s maybe 300-400 metres from us, just around the corner.

It’s caused big traffic delays, the tailback is far as the eye can see, probably going up towards Shire Lane.

The hole in diameter is about 6-8 feet across so it takes up almost a whole lane of traffic.

I think it might have been caused by a burst water main a few days beforehand, something ruptured underground.

18:11

Why was it low priority?

A spokesman for Thames Water said a leak was previously reported at the site but it hasn’t been deemed a high priority.

The reason for this was also given:

The leak was low priority as it wasn’t affecting water supplies or posing a flooding risk.

We have to make sure those that are, are fixed first .

18:07

Thames Water tell us what happened

A spokesman from Thames Water said:

A leak was reported along the road as low priority earlier this week and the repair is in the process of being arranged, however in light of the hole appearing today we’ll send an engineer there immediately to see if it is related to our leak.

If it is we’ll upgrade the repair to a high priority job.

18:01

Where is it?

The sinkhole is in Main Road, Biggin Hill at the junction with Salt Box Hill.

The hole can be seen half-filled with murky water.

17:59

So what exactly has happened?

There is a huge hole in the ground in the middle of a busy road in Biggin Hill, Bromley.

A tweet from MPS Bromley shows the area around the hole has been cordoned off, and the incident is now under the control of Thames Water.

We have approached them for comment and will update you when we have more information.